ALBANY – Gov. Paterson dropped the L-word – “legacy” – this morning while trying to argue that his decision to drop out of the governor’s race has actually strengthened his political hand.

The Democratic executive said his lame duck status means he no longer needs the support of special interests groups, such as powerful public-sector labor unions, who are no lining up to protest his budget-cutting plans.

“I would describe myself as a ‘free’ duck,” Paterson said during an interview on Buffalo radio station WBEN 930AM. “I am freed in the sense that I don’t have to placate anybody because I’m leaving at the end of the year.”

“A legacy I can leave for the people of New York is that I will hold the line and can’t be threatened,” Paterson said. “People will say I did a good job and then I’ll be a ‘good’ duck.”

The poll-challenged governor abandoned an increasingly bleak potential primary fight against Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in February after reports that members of the administration might have sought to quash a domestic violence complaint against a top aide.

The Legislature convenes for a crucial vote today on whether to approve weekly unpaid furloughs for state workers. Legislative leaders oppose the forced holidays, but they say they won’t risk a shutdown by blocking emergency spending legislation that contains the furlough language.

Paterson cautioned any lawmakers who might be thinking about voting “no.”

“We’re not going to have anarchy in this state, but certainly we will have run out of money and there’ll be no reason for state workers to come to work because we can’t pay them,” Paterson said.

The governor added that the weeks-long stalemate over how to close an estimated $9.2 billion budget gap left him “no choice but to ratchet up the pressure.”

“The alternative is we are on quicksand,” he said. “We just go week to week. Nobody can make a decision.”